00:00But we're going to lead off here with Tom Pellicero, Tommy P.
00:04He was on Rich Eisen's show yesterday.
00:06He was filling in for Eisen.
00:09And Eisen's producer, I cannot remember his name,
00:12but Eisen's producer is a massive Cowboys fan.
00:14And so he was sitting there and he got a chance to ask Pellicero.
00:18He's like, man, I need to know.
00:21Give me your best outlook on this George Pickens situation.
00:25Is he going to be here for the long term?
00:28And forget the long term.
00:29Is he going to be here just this year?
00:31Could there still be a trade that could happen?
00:34This is Tom Pellicero talking about the status of George Pickens cut 11
00:38and specifically where his trade market might be.
00:42When George Pickens was traded a year ago from Pittsburgh to Dallas,
00:45there wasn't like a huge market for him,
00:47as evidenced by the fact that he went for a third round pick.
00:50A lot of the stuff that had caused him to go in the second round of the draft in college
00:55showed up in Pittsburgh.
00:56Teams were aware of it.
00:57That's why there wasn't more of a market for a guy who is as talented as any receiver in the
01:02NFL.
01:03Absolutely.
01:03So is there a scenario where a team steps up and offers something significant enough to make Dallas move?
01:09There is.
01:10That hasn't happened to this point.
01:13And you have to wonder, given the value of George Pickens to the Cowboys,
01:19is there anything that someone could offer that would actually make them move?
01:22In other words, I don't see somebody being willing to give up a first round pick and more for George
01:27Pickens right now
01:29on top of giving him the contract.
01:31So if no one's going to do that, why would the Cowboys move?
01:34Again, there is a level of which, from my understanding, based on my belief,
01:38that they would be willing to listen.
01:39I just don't know that barring injury, and injuries can happen, let's say somebody goes down in the first week
01:45of training camp,
01:45a contender, and they're like, we've got to get a guy.
01:48Maybe you are willing at that point to give up a first round pick and more to go get a
01:51George Pickens.
01:53And that's where we talked about this, that there was that time after the draft,
01:58we mentioned this on Friday, I think, that in the immediate aftermath of the draft,
02:02when he first agreed to sign the tag, that he was kind of exploring his trade market,
02:07is what the report was from Jeremy Fowler, and trying to figure out what his value might be.
02:12And if you're the Cowboys, it's two first round picks to sign him to a deal if he's not under
02:18contract.
02:19But if he's under contract, you can obviously work something out.
02:21So now he's signed.
02:22They could trade him for less.
02:24Okay.
02:25And Pellicero right there makes it sound like the Cowboys, if they were to move off of him,
02:30would want a first round pick and then something more.
02:34So let's just say maybe it's a first and a third or something like that would be the Cowboys price.
02:38That's basically what Waddle got?
02:40Yeah, it was like a first, a third, and a swap of positions or something like that.
02:45But this is, I know Sean is the king of compensation.
02:50The cock.
02:51Like, yeah.
02:53But I think there's a difference between what your value is, what you should get,
03:00and then whether or not people are willing to pay it.
03:04Like, whatever people are willing to pay is technically your market.
03:08But the reality is, like, George Pickens is probably worth a first and a third or something like that,
03:12if he were to go on the open market.
03:17But that can very well be the value and people just go, yeah, I'm just not comfortable paying it right
03:21now
03:21because I got to see a little bit more.
03:23So, George Pickens, why did he ultimately decide to sign the franchise tag and then still kind of explore his
03:30trade market?
03:31Tom Pellicero on the decision in Pickens' camp to ultimately sign that tender.
03:35I believe he plays this out.
03:37Jerry Jones has already said they're not going to negotiate a long-term deal right now.
03:41So you're probably playing on the franchise tag, which is why you go and sign it rather than having the
03:46long shot.
03:47I don't think this would have happened, but the long shot possibility of the Cowboys pulling it,
03:53and all of a sudden nobody's willing to go out and give you $27 million that you would be due.
03:57So his agents at Athletes First, David Muligeta, like, they don't have guys miss paychecks.
04:04Muligeta never advises his guys don't show up.
04:06They don't always practice.
04:07Sometimes it's you have a back issue and you're basically standing around for a month.
04:11Ooh, mom, mom.
04:13But for Pickens, to me, it makes sense.
04:16He's going to show up.
04:18He now is bound to show up for minicamp into training camp.
04:20I don't think it's going to be a hold-in type of situation.
04:23We'll see if maybe his reps are limited and things like that.
04:26But George Pickens' best path here is go play really well.
04:31Your next tag next year will be 120% of this year's, which is around $33 million, if I'm doing
04:36the math right in my head.
04:37So now your options are you pay $33 million next year, which is $60 million over two,
04:41or you get to hit free agency next year.
04:43Well, the only way you're going to have that type of value next year is you play really well again.
04:49Don't get suspended for the first drive of a game in Vegas.
04:52Don't have any of those little blips that you did in the past.
04:55You don't want to go down that road.
04:57To me, it makes sense for Pickens to show up and play.
04:59Can I 100% say he'll be a Cowboy in 2026?
05:02No, because again, things change, things move, injuries happen, needs change.
05:09But all things equal, sitting here right now, I believe George Pickens is on the Cowboys in 2026.
05:15And look, I think he references it there very quickly.
05:22But we've had this discussion on the air before.
05:25I know at the time, after the Vegas thing, there was a lot of discussion of big deal.
05:30What is sitting him for a drive going to do?
05:33Like, how is that a punishment in Vegas that you sat him for a drive?
05:36And I agree that that's probably not much of a punishment for CeeDee Lamb.
05:40It doesn't really do anything to Lamb to sit him for a drive.
05:43He just doesn't start right away.
05:45Pickens, it did something.
05:46He mentions in both those cuts there.
05:50Pickens' reputation coming out of Georgia was tainted.
05:53Pippen, Pippen, Pickens' reputation leaving Pittsburgh was not good.
05:59And there were all these questions around it.
06:01You did not have to even say what the infraction was.
06:07Just by publicly showing everybody on national television in a primetime game
06:14that he's in trouble for something.
06:17That's enough to get the league going, okay, what's going on with Pickens then?
06:21We've been under the impression everything's been great with him.
06:24Like, I thought everything was fixed from Pittsburgh.
06:26And now this is the first game after a teammate dies and they're on national television
06:31and he's in trouble?
06:33He got in trouble that week?
06:35Of all weeks?
06:36How the hell does that happen?
06:38And it introduced enough doubt that that was a legitimate punishment for George Pickens.
06:42I believe it was legitimate.
06:43I'm just saying, the consequences were real for him.
06:46I don't know if the consequences were that real for CeeDee Lamb for having that.
06:51But the consequences are, that cost him money.
06:53Him sitting those three plays to start the game cost him money.
06:56Because teams went, okay, see, I knew there was something there.
07:00I knew that was not George Pickens was totally changed.
07:04And so whether that's the case or not, I think he was pretty good behavior last year.
07:09Yeah, some of the, he's got time blindness, as you've talked about before.
07:13Oh yeah, big time.
07:14He's got the time blindness, but teammates like him and he hasn't called out people publicly
07:19in the media like he did in Pittsburgh.
07:21It's not been really bad.
07:22But, man, when he was getting punished for that, that was a legitimate punishment that
07:27I think cost him money.
07:29Oh, I mean, I think it was absolutely a legitimate punishment.
07:32I'd have a big problem if it wasn't a legitimate punishment.
07:34It was like one of those, you know what I mean?
07:36Like, then you're just hurting the team.
07:39Even the coaching staff.
07:40But a lot of people viewed it that way at the time.
07:42And I don't think they realized, no, that hurt him.
07:44Yeah.
07:45That actually did hurt George Pickens' wallet.
07:48I mean, look, the issue, again, I still go back to this.
07:53I mean, I have, and maybe this is my own fault.
07:58I have wiped clean the production from Pittsburgh.
08:02I have stricken it from the record.
08:04Sure.
08:05Did I have a quarterback?
08:06It's like you've instructed the jury.
08:07I've instructed the jury.
08:08You didn't hear that comment.
08:09Yes, I have instructed the jury, and the jury is the other 31 teams, to strike that for
08:14the record.
08:14He didn't have a quarterback.
08:16Yeah.
08:17You know, like that's.
08:18He's got a damn good one now.
08:19And he does.
08:20He's a damn good one right now.
08:24Now, I would not send him to a team.
08:26If I was a team that doesn't have a quarterback, I'm not going to take him.
08:30If I'm a team that doesn't have strong leadership, maybe I wouldn't take him.
08:33But there are teams out there, like, I was going to say San Francisco, but the whole thing
08:39with Ayuk, Debo leaving there was weird.
08:43That's weird.
08:44I, you know, the Rams, the Rams should have no problem dealing with George Pickens.
08:48Boy, Mike Garofalo had the note yesterday that he would not be surprised to see the Rams
08:57start jumping in and before June 1st, maybe trying to get a call in to the Eagles again
09:03on Brown.
09:04On Brown.
09:05I mean, Philly, that place seems like a mess.
09:08That seems like a bad fit.
09:09Mm-hmm.
09:11You know, like the Buffalo.
09:13You know, Josh seems like he's got the Detroit.
09:15Yeah, but nobody wants to live in Buffalo.
09:17The Bears seem like, I mean, that seems like something that he could thrive in with Ben
09:22Johnson.
09:23There's a lot of teams out there.
09:25I think D'Amico and Houston, that's a good fit, right?
09:28D'Amico is a.
09:29Is Stroud a good fit?
09:30I don't know if Stroud's a good fit, but.
09:32Stroud's a Mulugeta guy, though.
09:33I'm sure they're buddies.
09:35I think culture-wise, D'Amico's got a good, strong culture down there, right?
09:40So there's a handful of teams that I think could take the risk on him, but the more you
09:44whittle it down, the lower the value gets.
09:46God, I got blinded by that light.
09:48I'm sorry.
09:49Blinded by the light.
09:50I think the more teams you get reduced, the lower the value is, and maybe you can, if
09:57you're another team, you can get away without giving a one and a two, or even a one and
10:01a three.
10:02Yeah, I think Dallas had made up in their mind in the spring, or I mean, we're kind of in
10:09the middle of spring right now, but Dallas had made up in their mind, I think, little
10:12before the combine, he was going to be here.
10:15And there really wasn't going to be a price that was going to make it easy to get him out
10:20of here, because they've got this three-year plan they're trying to execute, and he's part
10:24of it right now.
10:25And I don't know that he'll be part of it for all three years.
10:28In fact, I would say it's unlikely.
10:30I don't...
10:31I'd say it's significantly more unlikely that he's playing for the Cowboys in 2027 than
10:40playing for something else.
10:41Significantly more likely?
10:42Significantly more unlikely.
10:43Unlikely.
10:44It's unlikely, I think, that he's playing for the Cowboys in 2027.
10:46Not 26, but 27.
10:47Yeah, because people are bringing up, you know, he's, well, one says he's a low-level
10:55cancer that can metastasize at any moment, but others are saying, you're not close to
11:01the best offense in football if he's not here.
11:04And that's true.
11:05Yeah, that's true.
11:05I mean, you might be top 10.
11:07Because you're probably getting draft capital back.
11:09You're not getting a receiver back.
11:10Right.
11:10You might be top 10.
11:11Yeah.
11:12You could find a way.
11:12You got Dax, CD, Ferg, whatever he's going to offer, Javante, decent offense.
11:17I mean, you could still find your way into the top 10.
11:20You know, it might be tough, but you could find your way.
11:23Problem is, the defense is going to have to be top 10 if you don't have George Pickens.
11:26Right.
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